As an anarchist pacifist, I am not in support of signing because I think
that both "sides" are in the wrong. The land issue is a religious issue
and both Islam and Judaism are problematic institutions.
On 2025-06-05 15:56, Jake Watters via sudo-discuss wrote:
> if there are no objections can we go ahead and sign it?
>
> On Wed, Jun 4, 2025 at 11:13 PM Aaron Fenyes via sudo-discuss
> <sudo-discuss@sudoroom.org> wrote:
>
>> Jake, Lo, and I (Aaron) talked about the Apartheid-Free Communities
>> pledge at tonight's meeting! Here are some combined thoughts.
>>
>> === We should sign as soon as possible ===
>>
>> Signing the pledge will counteract ongoing harm in a small but real
>> way, so we should sign it as soon as possible.
>>
>> === Our obligations ===
>>
>> Here's an idea of what we think we're promising to do, as an
>> organization, by signing the pledge.
>>
>> --- Items 1-3 ---
>>
>>> WE AFFIRM our commitment to freedom, justice, and
>>> equality for the Palestinian people and all people
>>>
>>> WE OPPOSE all forms of racism, bigotry,
>>> discrimination, and oppression
>>>
>>> WE DECLARE ourselves an Apartheid-free community
>>
>> These are things we have or should have affirmed already, so
>> (re)affirming them presumably won't change anything about how we
>> operate.
>>
>> --- Item 4 ---
>>
>>> WE PLEDGE to join others in working to end all support to Israel's
>>> Apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.
>>
>> Here are some ways we can uphold this promise.
>>
>> - Sign the pledge. As Lo pointed out in the quoted e-mails below,
>> just putting our name on the list of signatories already helps
>> uphold our obligations: "It reflects public support to our elected
>> officials when we press them to divest from Israeli violence. It
>> reduces harm to Palestinian and Arab members of our community. It
>> challenges the official narratives and expands the public
>> consciousness around Palestine."
>>
>> - Confirm on our wiki that we've signed the pledge, and add the
>> Apartheid-Free Communities logo.
>>
>> - Facilitate (and, if possible, promote) the use of our space by
>> organizations "working to end all support to Israel's Apartheid
>> regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation."
>>
>> - Provide information resources (like flyers, zines, articles, book
>> chapters, and a listening / watching / reading list) in the space.
>>
>> === Background on the campaign ===
>>
>> This Apartheid-Free Communities campaign is financed by the American
>> Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization. You can find some
>> steering committee members on the campaign site's "About" page
>> (https://apartheid-free.org/about/).
>>
>> All the listed steering committee members are Christian or Unitarian
>> organizations, which for one of us (Aaron) is kind of a red flag.
>>
>> On the other hand, the list of pledge signatories seems to include
>> more diverse religious organizations. In particular, it has a good
>> number of Jewish organizations, including the national and Bay Area
>> chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace.
>>
>>> On Mon, 2 Jun 2025, Jake Watters via sudo-discuss wrote:
>>>
>>>> Let's have a meeting this coming Wednesday, in two days! Last
>> week just
>>>> three or four of us got together and discussed things as can be
>> seen in the
>>>> meeting notes:
>>>> https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Meetings
>>>>
>>>> Here's a proposed agenda:
>>>> * catch up on new membership applications
>>>> * continue talking about the process of sudoroom becoming its
>> own 501(c)3
>>>> * the volunteer effort of updating our membership list
>>>> * fundraising including reaching out to members who may have
>> forgotten to
>>>> pay dues
>>>> * sudoroom signing the "Apartheid-Free Communities" pledge! See
>> below for
>>>> more info
>>>>
>>>> Lets say this Wednesday, 7:30PM?
>>>> -jake
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
>>>> From: Lo via sudo-discuss sudo-discuss@sudoroom.org
>>>> Date: Tue, May 27, 2025 at 7:37 PM
>>>> Subject: [sudo-discuss] Proposal: SUDO room joins the Apartheid
>> Free
>>>> Communities Campaign
>>>> To: sudo-discuss@sudoroom.org
>>>>
>>>> Dear Sudoroom members and leaders,
>>>>
>>>> For the past 2.5 years I’ve been a Sudoroom “member” (I
>> say this in
>>>> quotations because I’ve been paying dues and attending but
>> have never been
>>>> endorsed as a full fledged member), but I’d like to make a
>> proposal that
>>>> Sudoroom become an Apartheid Free Community!
>>>>
>>>> I am writing as a member of SURJ Bay Area’s Palestine
>> Solidarity Campaign.
>>>> As a racial justice organization, SURJ believes it is our moral
>> obligation
>>>> to demand an end to Israel’s system of apartheid, its genocide
>> in Gaza, and
>>>> its increasing violent seizure of land in the West Bank. All
>> this is paid
>>>> for by our tax dollars, with the U.S. directly funding the
>> Israeli
>>>> government to the tune of $35 billion a year.
>>>>
>>>> We invite Sudoroom to join us to support the Palestinian
>> people’s human
>>>> rights, lives, and lands by taking the pledge to become an
>> Apartheid-Free
>>>> Community.
>>>>
>>>> Apartheid is a crime against humanity. As defined by the United
>> Nations
>>>> https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cspca/cspca.html, apartheid
>> includes:
>>>>
>>>> • Acts such as murder, torture, inhuman treatment, and
>> arbitrary arrest of
>>>> members of a racial group
>>>>
>>>> • Deliberate imposition upon the subjugated racial group of
>> living
>>>> conditions calculated to cause its physical destruction
>>>>
>>>> • Legislative measures that discriminate in the political,
>> social,
>>>> economic, and cultural fields
>>>>
>>>> We could fill pages with examples of how Israel’s treatment of
>> Palestinians
>>>> meets this criteria—from arrests and imprisonment without
>> charges to the
>>>> destruction of Gaza by bombing homes, hospitals, and schools and
>> cutting
>>>> off food, water, electricity and medical supplies. Palestinians
>> are
>>>> subjected to entirely different laws and judicial systems,
>> without freedom
>>>> of movement and economic opportunities.
>>>>
>>>> Inspired by the anti-apartheid movement that helped topple the
>> white
>>>> supremacist regime in South Africa, the Apartheid-Free
>> Communities Campaign
>>>> is bringing communities together to end apartheid in
>> Israel/Palestine. We
>>>> encourage Sudoroom to join the over 500 organizations across the
>> globe,
>>>> including cities, schools, faith-based communities, labor
>> unions,
>>>> businesses, and organizations, in taking the pledge to become an
>>>> Apartheid-Free Community.
>>>>
>>>> Signing the Pledge makes a difference! It reflects public
>> support to our
>>>> elected officials when we press them to divest from Israeli
>> violence. It
>>>> reduces harm to Palestinian and Arab members of our community.
>> It
>>>> challenges the official narratives and expands the public
>> consciousness
>>>> around Palestine. We ask that you sign this pledge, and take
>> actions, in
>>>> whatever way makes sense to Sudoroom, to be part of this effort.
>>>>
>>>> Be sure to let me know if you have any questions and how I can
>> support your
>>>> Sudoroom in signing the Pledge and joining this campaign.
>>>>
>>>> In Solidarity,
>>>>
>>>> Lo
>>>>
>>>> P.S. We have materials including buttons, posters, and pamphlets
>> you can
>>>> use to increase awareness and build support. Plus the
>> Apartheid-Free
>>>> Communities website https://apartheid-free.org/about/ is full of
>> great
>>>> resources and educational materials.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> *Lo *
>>>> Pronouns: She/They https://www.mypronouns.org/
>>>>
>>>> There is no neutral body from which our bodies deviate. Society
>> has
>>>> written deep into each strand of tissue of every living person
>> on earth.
>>>> What it writes into the heart muscles of five star generals is
>> distinct
>>>> from what it writes in the pancreatic tissue and intestinal
>> tracts of Black
>>>> single mothers in Detroit, of Mexicana migrants in Fresno, but
>> no body
>>>> stands outside the consequences of injustice and inequality
>>>>
>>>> *― *Aurora Levins Morales
>>>>
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